The recent opinion from the United States District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee, continues the saga of the case of CIC Services, LLC (“CIC”) and has implications for taxpayers seeking to recover attorneys’ fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”) and for its broader reflections on governmental fairness, particularly those looking to challenge…
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In a recent Chief Counsel Advice Memorandum[1] (“CCM”), the office of the IRS Chief Counsel debunks the income taxation, or lack thereof, found in promotional materials promoting a structure known as a “Non-grantor, irrevocable, complex, discretionary, spendthrift trust”, with a note that the structure may be referred to by several other similar but slightly different…
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How is relief of debt treated for tax purposes? Does it matter if the debt is recourse or non-recourse? Does it matter if the debtor is a separate entity guaranteed by the owner(s)? Does it matter if the debt is forgiven as part of a sale of property securing the debt? These issues were addressed…
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The Tax Court recently issued an order declining to grant either the IRS’s or taxpayers’ motions for partial summary judgement.[1] The taxpayers in question are the shareholders of a subchapter S corporation that in prior, now closed years, deducted losses from the corporation in excess of their adjusted bases in the corporation’s stock. The IRS…
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Generally, expenses related to activities that are not engaged in for profit are not deductible.[2] In a recent memorandum opinion[3], the United States Tax Court reiterated the criteria upon which the Court considers if an activity is engaged in for profit. While the recent decision was not a landmark case[4], it provides some cautionary guidance…
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We have covered timing and delivery issues in several articles, such as the recent Demuth and Hoensheid cases.[1] Similarly, the recent Tax Court case of Gage v. Comm’r dealt with the taxpayers that believed they paid a $875,000 settlement to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) in December of 2012.[2] Unfortunately for the…
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A recent Chief Counsel Advice Memorandum (“CCA”) discusses certain tax consequences pertaining to a taxpayer owning cryptocurrency native to a blockchain that undergoes a protocol upgrade. CCA 202316008. In the hypothetical scenario discussed in the CCA, a hypothetical blockchain, very similar to Ethereum, underwent a change in the method in which it approved and processed…
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Charitable remainder annuity trusts, or CRATS, are excellent estate planning vehicles and provide a litany of benefits to those who implement them, but as Devin Mills discussed in his recent article on the 2023 IRS Dirty Dozen list, the IRS considers CRATS as one of the legitimate tax strategies that are often abused by taxpayers.[1]…
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It is fairly common to make charitable gifts of property prior to a sale transaction. Often, those gifts are of real property or closely-held business interests. This is for good reason. Structured properly, not only do donors generally receive a charitable income tax deduction equal to the fair market value of the donated property, they…
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In a recent Notice issuance, the IRS and Treasury put taxpayers on notice that they intend to issue guidance related to the treatment of certain nonfungible tokens (“NFTs”) as collectibles under IRC § 408(m). Notice 2023-27 does not itself pass any regulations but instead puts taxpayers on notice for future guidance and that the IRS…
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